Making Memories

Nashville!!!

It was so incredibly special. Filled with memories I will carry with me forever. I cannot tell you how much happiness, pride, and love I felt over the course of the week. I mean it was practically insane with a group of 14 including several kids and a few older folks as well, but we all had so much fun! The image that sticks with me is of Graduation night's dinner at Monell's as all 14 of us sat at one big table. Passing baskets and baskets overflowing with southern cooking, it was so striking to see us all together and how, despite the absence of my parents, I am so very well supported. It was a representation of my life and why I live it and the people that care about me and will be there for me no matter what. Knowing that there were all these people on top of many others that would have liked to be there but couldn't almost overwhelmed me. When Ii get stuck thinking that the world is out to get me, there are moments like those where I realize how blessed I actually am. I am truly blessed to have met, impacted, and been impacted by all the people in my life. Thank you for being a part of that.

It was difficult trying to see a lot of my Vanderbilt people because everyone was so busy, but I saw everyone at least for a little while. Thanks to Carol I had very fine accommodations for the first few nights at her house in Franklin. Then we moved into the condo which also was very nice, but slightly more crowded with about 11 of us all living under the same roof. We made it to the Parthenon, the Opryland Hotel, Bicentennial Mall park, Opry Mills Mall, the Cracker Barrel, and even a Waffle House...all of my favorite sights around town. Of course, I also got to show off my school a bit. I won a bunch of special awards which was really exciting. The big award I won was the Dorothy J. Skeel Award for outstanding professional promise in elementary education. My professor from student teaching, Cristina, gave a little speech about me and listed a lot of my activities and accomplishments and compared me to a quote about Pablo Picasso that said many people can turn the sun into a yellow spot, but it takes real imagination, genius and talent for inspiration to turn a yellow spot into the sun. She said I embody that and share it with my students. Then she talked about the hardships of the past year and how my parents would have been so proud and everyone was crying. That was a very special moment too. Everyone seemed to have a great time and I'm really grateful for being able to share this important experience with all of them.

Check out some photos from the trip that my brother took at the following link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianespinosa/sets/72057594137721827/show/